"Diddy" Combs linked to Tupac shooting: report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times has linked
two former associates of rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to a 1994
assault on singer Tupac Shakur and suggested Combs knew of the
attack in advance. Combs called the story "a lie."

The newspaper's report on Monday cited an unnamed source
who said he was questioned during a federal probe of the
shooting and beating of Shakur at the Quad Recording Studios in
New York City.

Combs' associates helped plan the attack, the source told
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Times. The paper
said it corroborated the source's comments in several ways.

The Times suggested Combs and another rapper, the Notorious
B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), knew Shakur was being set up. For
years, Shakur claimed Combs was involved, it said.

"This story is a lie," Combs said in a statement on Monday.
"It is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither
Biggie (Wallace) nor I had any knowledge of any attack before,
during or after it happened."

Shakur's assault ignited a widely reported feud between
U.S. East Coast and West Coast rappers that resulted in insults
hurled back and forth in songs and, on occasion, violence
against members of both camps.

Shakur, a rising star in the early 1990s with hit CDs such
as "2pacalypse Now" and a member of the West Coast group, was
killed in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

Six months later, Notorious B.I.G., who was signed to
Combs' New York-based Bad Boy Records, was killed in a drive-by
shooting in Los Angeles.
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